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Perennial

No. 0556 · Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

Velvet Chard

Crop
Vegetable
Climate
Temperate
Season
Autumn
Origin
Liguria, Italy

No. 0556The variety

A broad-ribbed chard with dark, puckered leaves like crushed velvet, grown on Ligurian terraces for torta pasqualina.

Grows best inMild winters and steady moisture

Seed passport

Perennial Seed Library · Season 2026

No. 0556
Origin
Liguria, Italy
First documented
1908
Days to maturity
55 days for leaf, two years for seed
Height
50 to 60 cm in leaf
Hardiness
Hardy to −8 °C
Sun
Full sun to part shade
Spacing
30 cm
Flavor notes
Mineral, sweet and tender even in winter
Pledged open. Free to save and share.Hudson, NY

No. 0556Growth timeline

From sowing to saving seed.

Stage 01 of 06

  1. 01Late summer

    Sow

    Sow 2 cm deep in rich soil. Plants sown late in the season stand best through winter.

  2. 02Day 5 to 10

    Germinate

    Thin to the strongest seedlings and keep them steadily watered.

  3. 03Autumn to spring

    Pick leaves

    Take outer leaves a few at a time. The plant keeps growing from its center.

  4. 04Winter

    Overwinter

    Leave your best plants standing. Cold is what tells them to flower in spring.

  5. 05Spring, second year

    Flower

    Flower stalks rise quickly. Keep relatives of the same species well away while they bloom.

  6. 06Summer, second year

    Save seed

    Cut the stalks when most of the seed is dry, finish them under cover and thresh in a sack.

No. 0556Story

The story of Velvet Chard

On the terraces above the Ligurian coast, chard is a winter vegetable, picked leaf by leaf from October to April for the layered Easter pie called torta pasqualina. Velvet Chard has broad white ribs and leaves so dark and puckered they look like crushed velvet.

The seed was given to us by a family in the hills behind Chiavari with records of selling it at market in 1908. Like all beets, it flowers in its second year and crosses with any beet or chard nearby.

Grown by

3 growers this season

  • Tomás Ñancupil

    Chiloé, Chile

  • Dorin Matei

    Danube Delta, Romania

  • Pierre-Yves Le Gall

    Finistère, Brittany, France

No. 0556Velvet ChardPERENNIAL SEED LIBRARY

Lending list · Season 2026

Borrow this seed.

Members borrow up to twelve varieties a year. Seed is posted on the first Monday of the month in a hand-numbered paper packet, and all we ask in return is a little of your harvest and a few lines about how it grew.